October 31, 2011

What an enjoyable video! I have a question. What kind of personality it takes to stand there and repeat that horse manure? Who applies for these jobs and who accepts them? Is there a test you have to pass to get this job? Something like finding a kid with a puppy in the park and strangling the puppy?

October 29, 2011

Here's an interesting article on Der Spiegel website about how increasing numbers of Jews are exercising their right of return to the land of their parents and grandparents, Germany:

An increased number of American children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors have applied in recent years for the German citizenship stripped from their family members by the Nazis....

Under Article 116 of Germany's constitution, known as the Basic Law, anyone who had their citizenship revoked during the Nazi regime for "political, racist, or religious reasons" is eligible to reapply for German citizenship. The provision also makes allowances for the descendants of Nazi victims, and does not require them to give up the citizenship of their new home countries......

It's been an option for American Jews with German roots for years, but the number of applicants nearly doubled from 2007 to 2008 and has remained high, according to statistics from the German Federal Office of Administration in Cologne. In 2010, there were 815 such applications from the US. There were more applicants from Israel, but the number has steadily declined -- from 3,505 in 2003 to 1,459 last year.

The stats raise more questions then they answer and the answers aren't in the article. I'd be interested to know why there were so many more applications from Israelis of German descent than Americans. Is it because life is better in America than Israel? Is it because more holocaust survivors went to Israel? I doubt if it's that latter.

I suppose I should just be pleased that Germany supports the right of return.

October 26, 2011

One protester after being hit by a chemical weapons canister. (The use of chemical weapons during a war is a crime, but it is perfectly legal for attacking civilians)

I don't want to jump to conclusions before we hear all the lies from the police department and the mayor of Oakland. After all, this protester from Occupy Oakland could have ties to al-quaeda, and maybe he tried to bite an officer. We need to hear all the lies first. If you want to get the lies in person, which is highly recommended and may be even entertaining, if not downright educational, the allegedly "progressive" mayor of Oakland, Jean Quan, will take your call at (510) 238-3141. Remember that she's really on your side. On the brighter side, explaining how it works in Palestine might get a tad easier.

October 19, 2011

My book is out on the streets, and the book launch is next Tuesday - October 25th in SOAS (not the main campus). Anyone in London is invited along where I'll be discussing the book with the audience, and especially with Richard Kuper, the former head of JfJfP. All the info is below

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Jews for Justice for Palestinians

SOAS Palestine Society

London Middle East Institute

invite you to thebook launch of

Jewish Identity and Palestinian Rights

Diaspora Jewish Opposition to Israel

David Landy in conversation with

Richard Kuper, former Chair of JfJfP

Tuesday, October 25, 7pm

V211, School of Oriental and African Studies

Vernon Square, Penton Rise, London WC1X 9EW

Diaspora Jews are increasingly likely to criticise Israel and support Palestinian rights. In most Western societies, Jewish organisations have sprung up to oppose Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, facing harsh criticism from fellow Jews for their actions.

Jewish Identity and Palestinian Rights is a groundbreaking study of this growing worldwide social movement, examining how it challenges traditional Jewish representations of itself. It looks at why people join this movement; and questions how they relate to the Palestinians and their struggle.

About the Author

David Landy is an Irish-Jewish academic, active in the Palestine solidarity movement. Formerly chair and currently national organiser of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, he is based in Dublin where he lectures sociology in Trinity College Dublin.

October 18, 2011

To those who are coming back to their homes today and to their families, blessings, and to those who are still not allowed to come home, may you come home soon! Of the 4,347 political prisoners remaining in the jails of the apartheid state, 3000 Palestinian political prisoners are on hunger strike since September 27, demanding end to a number of repressive practices and the release of

Ahmad Sa’adat, a Palestinian national leader and the General Secretary of the PFLP, who has been imprisoned since March 2006 and, since winter 2009, has been held in solitary confinement following his call to resist the Israeli military attacks on Gaza in December 2008-January 2009 (Operation Cast Lead). (AIC)

The Hamas prisoners swap deal has been criticized for, among other issues, accepting some of Israel's conditions, including exile for many of the released, and for the poor timing that is shadowing the ongoing resistance in the prisons. The prisoners strike is getting growing support internationally and should get more, especially in the US, the world leader in incarceration and the slow and systemic torture of prisoners. Meanwhile, Ahmad Saadat's conditions deteriorated and he has been hospitalized.

Toufic Haddad argues on Jadaliyya that, despite valid criticism, the Hamas deal was a success that ought to be recognized and understood. He also makes a number of points that deserve repetition. First, about the success of Hamas in the prism of the choice of prisoners to be released:

Hamas was remarkably successfully in forcing Israel to release large numbers of prisoners with high prison sentences. In fact, 315 of the 477 prisoners released in the first major round have life sentences (310 men, five women); 144 prisoners have sentences longer than ten years; only nine prisoners have sentences less than ten years...

The impressive depth of this deal is best illustrated by adding up the total number of years erased by the deal, at least on paper...If an Israeli civil court understanding for a life sentence (twenty-five years) is nonetheless applied to the number of Palestinians sentenced to life in prison, we arrive at the figure of 23,150 years negated through this deal...In addition to those serving life sentences, however, the total number of years of those serving high but non-life prison sentences totals just over 4,585 years...If both figures are added together, a staggering 27,735 years are technically negated by the deal. All this from less than half the total number of prisoners released (roughly 45 percent). Jedaliyya

Another point that Haddad makes forcefully, and that keeps being lost on the imperial media:

...for any political strategy pursued by Palestinians and their allies to succeed, the enormous disparity in the “valuation” between Palestinian and Israeli people and prisoners of war needs to end. That one single Israeli soldier could be negotiated for more than one thousand Palestinians gives pause to question how a situation arose locally and internationally where such disparity of value became possible.

To illustrate this disparity, suffice it to say that twenty-six Palestinian prisoners in the Shalit deal were already in prison before Gilad Shalit was even born, with the longest amongst them—Nael Barghouti–having served thirty-four years in prison. In fact, ten Palestinian prisoners expected to be freed in this deal spent more time in Israeli prison than Nelson Mandela spent on Robben Island, although not one of them is known to non-Arabic-speaking publics. Not one of them—Sami Yunis, Fuad al-Razem, Uthman Musalah, Hasan Salama, Akram Mansour, Fakhri Barghouti, Ibrahim Jaber, Muhammad Abu Hud'a, Nael Barghouti, and Salim Kiyal—is the subject of a Wikipedia entry, for example. In contrast, Gilad Shalit, who has spent five years in captivity, is a household name in many western countries, holds honorary citizenship in three countries, and has Wikipedia pages translated into twenty-three languages. The disparity in perception, organization and financing between Zionist propaganda and Palestinian organizing is obvious, shocking and humbling. This is the legacy of entrenched racism, complicit media practices, sustained dehumanization campaigns, asymmetrical colonial and global power dynamics, disorganized or incompetent political projects and priorities. Whatever the cause, the disparity must be eradicated, and fast.

UPDATE: Assuming it is accurate, another piece of good news.

RAMALLAH, October 17, 2011 (WAFA) – Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails on hunger strike for three weeks Monday suspended their strike after reaching an agreement with the prison administration to end the solitary confinement punishment, according to Minister of Prisoners Issa Qaraqi. (Wafa , Hat tip to Mondoweiss)

UPDATE 2: From aljazeera, two profiles of the kind of records Israel is famous for, the oldest and the longest serving Palestinian prisoners. Both were found guilty by an illegitimagte apartheid court for having played a minor role in operations that result of the death of, in one case, a soldier, and in the second case, a settlement security officer. Welcome home!

Sami Younis

An undated photograph of Younis.

Younis, almost 80 years old, is believed to be the oldest Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails; has spent nearly one-third of his life behind bars.

He was born in 1932 in the village of Arara, near Umm al-Fahm, and worked as a taxi driver.

He was arrested in 1983; after several months in detention, he was charged with involvement in the kidnap and murder of Avi Bromberg, an Israeli soldier who was killed in 1980.

Younis was initially given a death sentence, which was reduced on appeal to life imprisonment.

Younis says he was tortured during the months he was detained and interrogated before his trial. He also reportedly has suffered several medical ailments while in prison, including a heart attack.

In an interview earlier this year with the Ahrar Centre, a Palestinian prisoners' group, his daughter Kauthar expressed her hope that her father would be included in a future prisoner swap.

"My father has been frustrated by talk of previous deals because the prisoners from inside Israel itself have been excluded," she said. "Now he hopes that the resistance groups will include them in any future deal and not exclude them under pressure from the Israelis."

Nael Barghouti

Barghouti in an undated photo released by his family.

Fifty-four-year-old Nael Barghouti is the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in Israel: he has spent 33 years, nearly his entire adult life, inside an Israeli prison.

Barghouti was arrested in April of 1978 and charged with taking part in a "commando operation" which killed one Israeli near the West Bank settlement of Halamish.

Both of Barghouti's parents died during his time in prison, and his sister has been banned from visiting him for the last two years, according to WAFA, the official Palestinian news agency.

"After 30 years in captivity, we are just soldiers returning to our bases," he told the Palestinian newspaper Falastin.

Barghouti's cousin, Faher, was arrested in June 1978 - two months after Nael - and has been in prison ever since.

He is also scheduled for release. Faher's son Hadi was born after his arrest, and the two have only met behind bars, according to an interview in Haaretz.

October 17, 2011

I noticed an Israel advocate bemoaning the fact that an anarchist called Ian Bone had suggested that the Israeli secret service group, Mossad, had some involvement with Liam Fox and his friend, Adam Werrity and even that Fox could have been a "useful idiot" for Mossad. I don't why the guy singled Bone out for criticism when the same story has appeared in The Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph. But there is a crucial difference between the Mail and Telegraph stories on the one hand and the Ian Bone post on the other. Well the Mail and Telegraph stories are still on line in their original places whereas the Ian Bone post has disappeared. Note that Ian Bone says "This story has a long way to run yet and could reach a lot higher up the food chain" and yet it appears to have run away from way down the food chain.

LIAM FOX ‘USED AS USEFUL IDIOT’ BY MOSSAD

This story has a long way to run yet and could reach a lot higher up the food chain. Here’s what the Mail on Sunday says:

‘But my source told me that what really was worrying senior officials in the MOD, FCO and Cabinet Office was the possibility that Fox could be being used as a ‘useful idiot’ by Mossad, Israel’s far-reaching and extremely effective intelligence service.

Key funding sources for Werritty were from the Israeli lobby and a rather obscure commercial intelligence agency.

Might Mossad be pulling Werritty’s strings, with or without his knowledge?

October 16, 2011

The first story concerns the arrest of Palestinian political activist, Raed Salah, using evidence apparently fabricated by a self-styled Jewish security organisation in the UK, the Community Security Trust. If you follow the link to Asa Winstanley's Electronic Intifada report you will see the evidence of fabrication and if you check out this Guardian article you will see that the Home Secretary appears to have based her decision to excluse Raed Salah, not on anything he had done but on who wanted him excluded in the first place.

I would have missed the second story were it not for the correspondence with the Islington Tribune following an outrageous decision by Haringey Council to prevent schools attending a Palestinian literature festival following lobbying by the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Here's how the story first broke:

A ROW has erupted between Islington North Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn and a senior Town Hall official over advice warning primary schools against taking part in a Palestinian literature festival.

Former children’s laureate Michael Rosen is among those taking part in the event, organised by Haringey Justice for Palestine group, which runs from September 29 to October 2.

Mr Rosen is also angry about the advice that schools should not become involved. He said: “It’s very disappointing and a rather strange way to behave by Islington Council. Instead of entering into a conversation with the organisers they have simply taken the word of someone and then taken this somewhat draconian step to advise people not to take part.”

The advice came from the Labour-controlled council’s corporate director of children’s services, Eleanor Schooling, who warned that the “political” nature of the event might contravene the 1996 Education Act.

Two schools, including Duncombe Primary in Upper Holloway, were due to take part in the Tottenham Palestinian Literature Festival. Both have since reluctantly withdrawn from the event.

However, it appears that Ms Schooling had been advised by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who had expressed concerns.

Here is the letter that had me taking notice of the whole issue. It is from Yael Kahn:

IT was rather misleading for the Board of Deputies of British Jews to claim it represents all British Jews.

I and other Jews living in Islington would have nothing to do with this partisan, sectarian and Israeli-apologist body.

Having left Israel because of the apartheid against Palestinians, it is important for me to work with those objecting to racism of all forms.

One such group is the No to Veolia Action Group and if you are appalled by the Israeli illegal settlements then you can join us at 7.30pm on Monday, October 24, at the Regent pub in Liverpool Road.

YAEL KAHN
N1

Good letter! A report, a complaint and a call to action.

And story number three involves the lobbyist and the recent ministerial resignation. Here's former UK diplomat Craig Murray in yesterday's Daily Mail wondering if Liam Fox's "best man" was a willing lobbyist for Israel or just a useful idiot.

I've been reading Battle for the East End and it deals with far more than the battle of Cable Street, more than just the east end and more than just fascism and the struggle against it. The book is subtitled, Jewish responses to fascism in the 1930s but it is something of a social, political and economic history of the UK in the 1930s though of course there is a special focus on fascism, Jews and London's east end.

Here's the blurb taken from David Rosenberg's East End Walks site including dates of forthcoming talks and the chapter titles from the book:

Battle for the East End: Jewish responses to fascism in the 1930s

268pp ISBN: 978 1907869181 Five Leaves Publications, 2011, £9.99What’s the book about?
During the 1930s, Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts intensified their campaign against the Jewish community, particularly in London’s East End. As that campaign became more overtly antisemitic, and more physically intimidating, Jewish groups debated how to deal with the Fascist threat, ultimately building their own defence organisations, and forging alliances with other campaigners. The simmering tensions in East London culminated in the Battle of Cable Street, when more than 100,000 people, especially from the local Jewish and Irish communities, prevented Mosley’s troops from marching through the East End.

In Battle for the East End, David Rosenberg charts the changing nature of the British Union of Fascists’ ideas about Jews and describes the growing rifts between the official leaders of the Jewish community and those who wanted to mount an active resistance to the fascists.

“Battle for the East End is written by an anti-fascist activist with a real feel and connection both to the politics and the geographical area he writes about. For anyone who wants to understand the political, historical and cultural context in which the Battle of Cable Street took place then Battle for the East End is a must for the bookshelf.” Searchlight Educational Trust

“The Battle of Cable Street is one of the most celebrated moments in Anglo-Jewish history and, in Battle for the East End, David Rosenberg gives a compelling account of the context and controversies that surrounded it, made even more vivid by eye-witness testimony.” Nadia Valman, Jewish Chronicle

Contents of the book
Preface
Introduction
1. Britain’s Jews
2. How Jews were viewed
3. The rise of Mosley’s movement
4. Antisemitism and the British Union of Fascists
5. How Jewish leaders perceived the threat
6. Battle for the East End
7. Divided on defence: the grassroots rebellion
8. Rally to Aldgate and Cable Street
9. Antisemitism, fascism and the state
ConclusionOrder it online
To purchase the book online go to:http://inpressbooks.co.uk/battle_for_the_east_end_jewish_responses_to_fascism_in_the_1930s_david_rosenberg_i022676.aspxBattle for the East End is one of five publications that Five Leaves are publishing to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street. To see the other titles visit: http://www.fiveleaves.co.uk/

I must say that David Rosenberg deserves special credit for wading through a mountain of Jewish Chronicles from the time when they were advising Jews to not be so Jewish and to stay at home and ignore those nasty fascists.

October 06, 2011

On Thursday Palestinians are protesting about the latest instance of ethnic cleansing by the Israeli government. In the Beer Sheba (Beer es Saba) region of southern Israel about 30,000 inhabitants are about to be driven from their homes.

Their villages have been designated "unrecognised" for more than 60 years, making their lands easy prey for confiscation. And while they are refused the same rights as other Israeli citizens to facilities such as running water, schools and hospitals, the Israeli state demands their taxes.

The British government must condemn any move to evict the Palestinian citizens of Israel from their lands, which were documented under the British Mandate as privately owned Palestinian land – not ownerless as the Israeli state now claims.

• Those who lead European football must respond to an appeal from Palestinians dismayed at the prospect of Israel hosting Uefa's under-21 tournament in 2013. A state that uses military might to hold sway over land it illegally occupies and exploits, flouts international law and ignores UN resolutions surely forfeits the right to be treated as a member of the community of nations. But western powers continue to embrace Israel as an ally.

During the 2011 under-21 tournament in Denmark in June, 42 Gazan football clubs, backed by many sporting bodies, wrote to Uefa president Michel Platini calling on his organisation not "to reward Israel for its violent repression of Palestinian rights". We ask Uefa to respond positively to this plea.

• The government changes the law and brings out the red carpet to allow alleged Israeli war criminals into the UK (Former Israeli minister to visit UK after change in arrest law, 4 October) but changes the rules to arrest visiting Palestinians whose only "crime" is to campaign for their rights (Palestinian activist was held unlawfully, says high court, 1 October). The Goldstone report, which has been endorsed at the UN general assembly, provides clear evidence of how in its 2008-09 attack on Gaza, Israel was responsible for attacks on children, use of human shields, and use of phosphorous bombs and flachettes in civilian areas. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also documented serious cases of abuse. For William Hague to invite to the UK Israeli leaders who were in government at the time these alleged crimes were committed is a slap in the face for relatives of the 1,400 dead, the 5,000 injured and the many others who suffered due to Israel's Cast Lead attack on Gaza.Dr Stephen LeahYork